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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27226672">To Bury the Young</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/rayofsun936/pseuds/rayofsun936'>rayofsun936</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Everyone Dies/Nobody Lives, Alternate Universe - Military, Angst, Bittersweet Ending, Character Death, Character Study, Funerals, Heavy Angst, Hurt, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Mild Hurt/Comfort, POV Ukai Keishin, Prisoner of War, Sacrifice, Sad, Sadness, Snipers, War, additional tags, assassinations</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 21:01:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,749</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27226672</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/rayofsun936/pseuds/rayofsun936</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Keishin wants to be a retired war vet relaxing on his family farm. Unfortunately, he is an Ukai. Meaning he doesn’t get his happy ending. Instead he gets the honor of training the next generation to end the war his failed to finish.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kinoshita Hisashi &amp; Narita Kazuhito, Nishinoya Yuu &amp; Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Takeda Ittetsu &amp; Ukai Keishin, Tsukishima Kei &amp; Yamaguchi Tadashi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>37</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Stuck</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This story is going to explore heavy/mature topics. Nothing is going to be graphic, but parts are going to be blunt.<br/>I also want to inform you now that Keishin and Takeda are the only ones alive at the end of the story.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Keishin hates war. He hates his job. But he does it anyways. In the hope that others later down the line won’t have to go through what he did. Don’t have to live the life he does. So Keishin marches forward. Doing his duty to his country and to his people.</p><p>He continues forward even as he loses squad mates. He continues forward through the loss of over half of his platoon. He pushes through the deaths of his friends and comrades at arms. He marches onward when there is nothing left for him. He passively continues through his deployments when there is nothing left of him.</p><p> </p><p>Keishin feels a messed-up sense of relief when he discovers he can’t use his arm the way he wants to after taking a bullet to his shoulder. The wound doesn’t heal properly which in turn leaves him unfit for combat. He is grateful for this turn of events as he smiles on his way out of the hospital. </p><p> </p><p>Turns out his messed-up shoulder isn’t messed-up enough because he doesn’t get the Honorable Discharge he was hoping for. He doesn’t get any medals for keeping a fellow solider in arms alive. No. Keishin wasn’t heroic enough for that. He didn’t get hurt enough to be fully dismissed. He still has his uses as an Ukai after all.</p><p>Instead they give him a ‘break’ by keeping him state side to ‘listen’ to his opinions in war meetings. When in reality he gets stuck training the next generation of veterans.</p><p>Keishin isn’t thrilled. He really wanted to be released with an Honorable Discharge. To be the first of his family to leave on his own terms.</p><p> </p><p>It takes a while, but his new position grows on him without his permission. He gains a complex sense of pride and accomplishment when he sees each graduating class of cadets he guided get fully instated as true soldiers. He can’t help it. He was the one who got to see up close how they transformed from fresh, wide eyed teenagers to people his grandfather would be proud of.</p><p>And Keishin admits the best part of being in charge of training is hearing of their accomplishments post boot camp. Seeing how they climb the ranks and making a name for themselves. Experiencing the impact that they had on their country. Bringing them closer to the end of this war.</p><p>The worst part of training the new recruits is learning how their careers ended.</p><p> </p><p>Keishin tries his best to attend every funeral he can. It’s the least he can do for not ending it before they joined.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Untapped Potential</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Keishin will never forget the very bright, intelligent boy by the name of Kageyama Tobio.</p><p>The kid showed up, unannounced, at registration with a frown etched into his face, making the other recruits nervous. Because who would in their right mind would be here willingly? When asked about why he is voluntarily signing his life away he responds with: ‘To honor my grandfather. To end this war. To make it pay for what it has done to me.’</p><p>Keishin remembers the kid’s attitude didn’t help him bond well with his class. In fact, he clashed horribly with the rest of the cadets. He was of a one-track mind and nobody else could keep up with him physically or mentally, so he left them all behind. Pushing forward towards his own goal and graduating leagues above the others.</p><p> </p><p>The higher ups recognize a good tool when they see one. The kid is promoted quickly for his sharp, intuitive, and brilliant mind. And Keishin is sad to say he wasn’t surprised to see him at an important war meeting a few months post-graduation. What does surprise him is how dim the kid’s eyes have gotten in such a short period of time.</p><p> </p><p>Kageyama would have gone far. Could have gone far. If it wasn’t for the inexplainable fear others had for him. Keishin doesn’t understand how others felt threatened by a kid. Especially a kid who could have potentially ended it all. But no. The war goes on because of the stupidity of those responsible for ending it.</p><p>The official news stories claim the car crash was an accident. Keishin doesn’t believe it for a second. It happened on home soil. On base. Before another war meeting. Where Kageyama would have suggested a winning strategy for the hundredth time in a row in his short three years of service. Which would have granted him a promotion, placing him higher than most of the ten-year seasoned veterans in the room with him. It was too coincidental for it to have been an accident.</p><p> </p><p>The funeral is small. Not many show up. The kid has no living family members. All of them were consumed by the war in one way or another.</p><p> </p><p>Keishin keeps moving like he was trained to do because there is nothing else he can do. He continues to train the new recruits, in hopes that one day, one of them will turn this all around and end it.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Lionheart</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Azumane Asahi is the definition of a gentle giant. The kid comes in with a heart so big and caring, it breaks what is left of Keishin’s soul to have to rip it to shreds.</p><p> </p><p>It becomes too much for Keishin to take. Watching the kid being broken down into nothing so he can be rebuilt into something more useful for the military to utilize is heart wrenching. It makes Keishin sick to his stomach knowing he is part of this messed up system called war.</p><p> </p><p>And when Keishin can’t force himself to continue his work, he uses his Ukai name for good. He uses his name by putting together a letter that will medically excuse the one caring person the war hasn’t contaminated yet.</p><p>He then spends hours trying to convince the kind soul to leave the gates of hell. Practically shoving the letter into the kid’s giant hands to get him to leave faster.</p><p>The kid doesn’t leave. Despite being terrified of his own strength and fears of turning into something he won’t recognize in the mirror. Azumane refuses the letter.</p><p>When Keishin asks the kid why he chooses to continue forward into hell, the response he gets is: ‘If not me, Who? If not now, When?’ and those words stay with him till this very day.</p><p> </p><p>After that Azumane turns into a solid cannon that the military quickly puts to work post-graduation. Stationing him on the boarders of their country to protect its people.</p><p> </p><p>And the kid died doing just that. Protecting those without the means to protect themselves. He dies protecting an orphanage of kids from enemy hostiles attacking their borders.</p><p>Every single kid survived. Azumane and the enemies didn’t.</p><p> </p><p>Keishin really wants this war to end.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Refusing to be Bound</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The joint funeral of Nishinoya Yuu and Tanaka Ryuunosuke is among the hardest of funerals Keishin has to attend thus far.</p><p>There are no bodies to burry. They didn’t wish for their bodies to rot in the ground. So here Keishin stands, on top of a cliff in the mountains, helping release their remains into the sky.</p><p>Their Will said to cremate them together and then spread their mixed ashes into the wind. Finding it unfair that the living would have to spend precious time and money to visit them after they’re gone. Wanting to be available for anyone and everyone, whenever they needed it. They also didn’t want to be confined to one place, even in death.</p><p>Keishin smiles softly to himself at their logic.</p><p> </p><p>He remembers meeting the two of them for the first time like it was yesterday. Nishinoya and Tanaka were two young, loud, rambunctious kids who wouldn’t stop shouting and screaming throughout registration.</p><p>The screaming and endless energy continued throughout training. Which earned them hate from the others because no one should be that carefree or have that much energy in their environment. The two of them ignore their haters and continue to keep their spirits high. Acting like they weren’t forced to be here. Giving off the illusion that they chose to be here willingly.</p><p>Keishin couldn’t bring himself to be the one to reprimand them for their offbeat attitude. He did however sit them down within the first month of their training to make sure they knew the extent of what is being asked of them.</p><p>The sudden shift in mood during that conversation was like night and day. That was when Keishin understood they knew exactly what is being asked of them, and they are prepared to deliver.</p><p>Their understanding was evident in their training. In the way they took everything that was being taught seriously, underneath all the exaggerated screaming and yelling. It was evident in the cold hard truth of them staying close to the top ten percent of their class, despite them both being high school dropouts. It was evident when they turned in their Wills, together, before their first deployment. Determination radiating off of them in waves.</p><p>It was most evident through their actions in the field, after they became fully seasoned warriors of war.</p><p>The two of them left their service the way the entered. Running and screaming into a blaze of glory. Just the way they wanted.</p><p> </p><p>After the joint funeral Keishin finds himself in a bar with a rambunctious blond. They exchange stories of the two heroes and Keishin goes home feeling lighter than he has in a long time.</p><p>A few months later he reads the name Tanaka Saeko on the updated list of deserters. Rumor has it she is now somewhere very far far way from all of the violence.</p><p>He hopes she can find the peace she’s looking for.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Control</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Keishin knows that if the top brass was composed of men like Sawamura Daichi this war would have ended a long time ago.</p><p> </p><p>The kid is your picture-perfect soldier. He knows how to take orders and carry them out. He can adjust quickly when unknown elements are thrown at him during training. He is strong both physically and mentally and excels at motivating his fellow recruits during a particularly hard drill.</p><p>So it doesn’t surprise Keishin when Sawamura is rapidly promoted into higher and higher ranking positions. Becoming a name to listen out for when platoon and battalion leaders are announced for the next deployments.  </p><p>The kid is a natural born field leader who knows when to be stern, and when to show compassion to his troops. He is the ideal leader because he knows how to reprioritize goals and objectives in the middle of a mission – no matter how painful it is – to achieve their objective.</p><p>What really makes Sawamura a good leader is him valuing the lives placed in his care. And that is his downfall.</p><p>It happens after a particularly rough mission where the kid lost well over half of his troops to meet the objective. The military counted that as a win and granted him a promotion – which will put more lives into his already bloodied hands – as a thank you.</p><p>The kid disagrees with the military’s decision and never makes it to the ceremony.</p><p> </p><p>Later Keishin learns Sawamura left the military on his own terms.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Silent Acceptance</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Keishin has been to a lot of funerals of long-standing military families throughout his life. Such as the Nekomatas and Washijios, and many others of their caliber. Benefit of being an Ukai after all.</p><p>The latest burial ceremony he is at is for the Tsukishima family line. It has been a while since their name has circled the ranks. Rumor has it that they had a falling out with each other. Keishin hopes this death will help the family put the past behind them and help them heal, as messed up as that is.</p><p> </p><p>When he enters the funeral home and sees the name Tsukishima Kei on the pamphlet, a faint bell rings in the back of his head. Bringing on a sense of dread.</p><p>Everything clicks together after he approaches the open casket.</p><p> </p><p>The kid was a quite cadet who only did what needed to be done, and nothing more. He flew under the radar all throughout boot camp.</p><p>Keishin tried to have a conversation with him once. Hoping to push a bit more life into the kid, cause a passive soldier doesn’t last long. After their one-sided conversation Keishin notices the kid putting a bit more effort into training.</p><p>When Keishin asks about the change of attitude the reply he gets is: ‘You’re right, I do have someone worth fighting for.’ Keishin doesn’t push further, accepting the answer and loses track of him after graduation.</p><p> </p><p>According to the eulogy, the kid died quietly out in the field. A spare bullet nicked him on the side of his neck, hitting the carotid. He was gone before anything could be done.</p><p>The funeral itself is a small one. Less than a dozen people show up. None of them were family members. The kid was the last of his line after all.</p><p> </p><p>When Keishin gets home that night he has a hard time falling asleep. Their similarities hit a bit too close to home for comfort.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Tricking Your Fear</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A small, short, petite blond girl shows up at the most recent registration trembling like a leaf caught in a hurricane </p><p>Keishin immediately gets ready to fill out his letter of medical leave again because there is no way this kid will make it through training, let alone a full month. And when Yachi Hitoka walks up to him at the end of her first week he is ready to deliver.</p><p>Except the kid is asking for a letter of recommendation to stay, not leave.</p><p>Keishin can’t help but scoff at the ridiculous request. He quickly regains his military professional demeanor after he realizes she isn’t joking. He then has a very serious conversation with the kid. Pushing her to accept her ticket out without a fuss. Emphasizing that it is an opportunity few get to have.</p><p>The kid insists on staying. Keishin refuses to give her the letter she wants. He isn’t going to sign her death wish, even though she doesn’t see it that way. The kid storms off, confident she will get what she wants. Keishin hopes no one is stupid enough to give it to her.</p><p> </p><p>Turns out someone is stupid enough to approve of her stay, forcing Keishin to finish training her.</p><p> </p><p>Years later the name Yachi is added to the list of important names to remember, and Keishin doesn’t like how familiar it sounds. His hunch is proven right when he sees her at the next war meeting.</p><p>What confuses him the most of the situation is seeing her at the head table, because she isn’t a strategist like Kageyama nor is she a leader like Sawamura. No offense to her, but that isn’t who she is.</p><p>The Yachi Keishin knows is better at working from the sidelines, not the front. She constantly encouraged her fellow cadets even as she was scared out of her mind. The kid doesn’t fit in with the room full of war mongers.</p><p>As the meeting goes on Keishin starts understanding why she’s here. For very plan or strategy proposed by the top brass, Yachi tears it apart with her anxiety and paranoia like tissue paper. Keishin gets a kick out of watching all of their inflated egos get knocked down a few pegs.</p><p>After the meeting Keishin wants to ask the kid how she weaseled her way into such an important meeting but never gets the chance. She is ushered away before anyone can speak with her. At least she is being protected in exchange for her valuable advice.</p><p> </p><p>But of course the protection doesn’t last forever because the kid gets sent to the front lines during one of their shortages. She doesn’t last a full week before being shipped back home in a body bag. </p><p> </p><p>At the funeral he meets the kid’s mom. A tall blond woman with a stern look occupying her face. Keishin wants to apologize for not saving her kid but the woman beats him to it by saying: ‘My daughter knew what she wanted. She knew this was the likely outcome.’</p><p>He mustn’t have disguised his disapproval of her harsh words fast enough because she follows up with: ‘I won’t forget your efforts to keep her safe. I thank you for trying.’ before walking away.</p><p>Keishin knows he didn’t try hard enough.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Clipped Wings</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Keishin meets Hinata Shouyou he wants to dismantle the whole war with his bare hands. A kid this happy, this bright, this pure shouldn’t be fighting a war his generation failed to end.</p><p> </p><p>The kid is a breath of fresh air to the dreary base by always laughing and telling jokes. He constantly helps his fellow trainees. Pushing them to become the best they can be by initiating extra practices and group study sessions to ensure no one gets left behind. Becoming a beacon of light for others to follow.</p><p> </p><p>Post-graduation Hinata goes far. The kid carves himself a place to call his own – in the chaos of war – through flying. And the kid Flies. He consistently travels beyond the speed of sound. Saving lives and taking them in the same tank of gas. Making the sky his domain. Earning him the code name ‘Black Crow’.</p><p> </p><p>The kid’s flying skills are quickly recognized by the higher ups and he is reassigned to fly all the special VIPs of their country. Hinata obeys for a while, accepting his role until he learns they are severely lacking in air power.</p><p>From then on, the kid constantly argues with his commanding officers to be let back on to the field. They deny him every time, insisting he is most useful where he is now.</p><p>They finally agree to let him back in the field after he promises to stay until a replacement can be found. The kid sweetens the deal by also promising to personally train his replacement. Anything to ensure he will be allowed back in the sky to help those who need him.</p><p>Once Hinata is back in the sky the arial battles shift in their favor. The Black Crow is back. Striking fear into their enemies. Becoming a beacon of hope for their allies to flock to.</p><p> </p><p>Until his plane is recognized and goes down in flames. There is nothing left in the wreckage.</p><p> </p><p>Keishin is surprised to see a female carbon copy of Hinata at the funeral.</p><p>He almost breaks every mirror in the bathroom at the funeral home after he learns she is determined to finish the job her brother died trying to complete.</p><p>When Keishin asks why the response he gets is: ‘I was saved by an angle just like my brother. This is the only way I can pay them back.’</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. A Scared Kid</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Keishin starts wondering why the military attracts so many angels. Sits on the question for a good while and then retracts it. Remembering the angels don’t have a choice in the matter.</p><p> </p><p>The current angel who is making his brain run around in circles is a silver haired kid, who walked up to registration with a smile so sweet it could rot your teeth out. The kid mingles around, becoming friends with just about every recruit in his class. Keishin wants to warn the kid of the dangers of getting too close to your fellow recruits because it normally doesn’t end well for those who do.</p><p>And then Keishin thinks he doesn’t have to worry about it, cause the kid flips and starts violently yelling at his newfound friends during drills. Getting Keishin mildly worried for a few days. He decides to brush it off as a sudden adjustment issue. Which isn’t that uncommon. Unfortunately.</p><p>He does get increasingly worried when the yelling extends into mealtimes and the barracks. Keishin is about to put a stop to it until he sees the other recruits go up to the kid for advice and guidance, even though he just yelled at them viciously a half hour ago.</p><p>Keishin doesn’t get how the kid can switch between the trusted, reliable role model to the one being feared for unprovoked shanking and then back to trusted confidant within the span of a single training session. It makes his head spin, and the more Keishin thinks about the kid’s behavior the more he thinks he knows him from somewhere. His musings are cut short each time due to having to prevent another recruit from blowing themselves up prematurely.</p><p>The silver haired kid finishes somewhere in the middle of his class and Keishin loses track of him post-graduation and almost forgets about him.</p><p> </p><p>Until the kid’s face is blasted across all devices on base.</p><p>Sugawara Koushi is the top spy for their country and is currently being held for ransom, after already being pronounced MIA for six months. Looks like no one is exempted from service at this point. The military has a week to follow through with the deal or the kid pays the price.</p><p> </p><p>When the time is up, Sugawara’s face is blasted yet again on every device on base, and the rest of the country. So everyone can watch the death of The Sugawara Koushi, who was The child actor of his generation. Who stared in multiple movies and TV shows which have become famous around the world. How Keishin didn’t connect the dots is beyond him.</p><p>The kid looks a thousand times worse than he did the first time around and Keishin wishes he could erase the whole video from his memory. The specific image he really needs to expel from his brain for the rest of eternity is the sugary sweet smile the kid did his best to keep up throughout the live stream.</p><p> </p><p>The whole country grieves the loss of The Sugawara Koushi by setting up memorials that go on for weeks to pay their respects to the greatest actor and influencer of the century.</p><p>Keishin sits in his home and grieves the loss of Sugawara Koushi. A scared kid that was used and tossed aside by the country who was supposed to protect him.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I forgot to mention last chapter that I hc Asahi as Natsu's angle</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Watching Your Six</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>One of Keishin’s biggest regrets in life is training Yamaguchi Tadashi into a cold-blooded killer.</p><p> </p><p>He watches (almost passively) this shy, nervous kid turn into something worse than the bogyman you use to scare young children into bed.</p><p>The transformation is astonishing really. Yamaguchi started out similar to Azumane and Yachi. For the kid was scared of his own shadow and couldn’t stop flinching after every discharge his gun made. Keishin offers his letter and is denied yet again.</p><p>But unlike Azumane who Keishin had to slowly break and rebuild, Yamaguchi breaks himself over the span of a single night and shows up to training the next day a completely different person. He stops jumping at every shadow created during training. He spends hours up on hours in the range. Getting to know every single firearm and their quirks. He goes from being at the bottom of the barrel to the top five percent of his class by graduation.</p><p> </p><p>And then later, years down the line Keishin learns Yamaguchi Tadashi is the top sniper of their country. Taking out high ranking officials of their enemies by the dozens. He racks up more confirmed kills than any of the other kids he’s trained.</p><p> </p><p>It’s either karma or some sick joke of irony that a sniper took out their country’s best sharpshooter. The kid never got someone to watch his six.</p><p>Keishin remembers asking the kid why he refuses to have a spotter after running into him by happenstance some time ago. Yamaguchi replied with ‘The person watching my back has the best vantage point out of any one the military could give me.’</p><p>Keishin isn’t satisfied with that answer and pesters the kid until he receives ‘He is already in the sky, watching over me.’</p><p> </p><p>The funeral is at the Tsukishima family grave site.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Not a Monster</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There is a kid who does take his note to run away. To be excused from serving. Keishin feels relief in that he was able to save at least one kid’s life.</p><p> </p><p>His relief doesn’t last forever.</p><p> </p><p>Two years later Keishin hopes he doesn’t recognize the sleepy-eyed kid walking up to the registration desk for the second time. The feeling of déjà vu denies him of his denial.</p><p>Ennoshita Chikara is back to repeat all the drills he passed the first time around. He goes through all of boot camp a second time. Pulling slightly better scores than his previous ones.</p><p>It doesn’t make sense.</p><p>The kid leaves his graduation ceremony with a determined look on his face. Keishin makes sure to ask his burning question before the kid disappears from him forever. Needing to know why someone would accept a letter to leave hell only to come back of their own free will.</p><p>The response he gets is ‘I didn’t want to die a monster.’</p><p> </p><p>Turns out Ennoshita spent his time away learning how to repair and heal others. He becomes a field medic during his service. Instead of fighting on the front lines, he stitches and patches others up either in the middle of the chaos or at the pop-up-tent-hospitals.</p><p> </p><p>He goes down when one of their own mistaken him for an enemy in a fit of delusion.</p><p> </p><p>Afterwards Keishin goes through the kid’s file and reads that most of his platoon always made it out alive. That the survival rates in the med huts wherever he was stationed averaged to about 83%. Everyone on his deployments were lucky to have him.</p><p> </p><p>Keishin really wishes the kid stayed away after being excused from service.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. History Repeats Itself</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Keishin gets a strong sense of déjà vu he doesn’t want with his newest recruits.</p><p> </p><p>The first one to grab his attention is Kinoshita Hisashi, who has an official medical diagnosis that excuses him from service prior to arrival. Indicating the kid shouldn’t have been allowed through the front door. Mandatory draft or not. So Keishin fights for the kid’s discharge and uses his poor performance as proof. It finally takes after a few weeks and the kid is all packed up, ready to take the first bus off base in the morning.</p><p>Until he doesn’t.</p><p>Instead of seeing Kinoshita on the bus the next day, he sees him walking towards the firing range with his bunkmate. And Keishin knows he lost this battle too. He watches the kid complete his basic training and stand on stage with the rest of his class with a determined look on his face.</p><p> </p><p>A few months later a new sniper team starts brining in results that make the top brass happy. It’s composed of Kinoshita and his bunkmate. They’re good together, effective. Not as effective as Yamaguchi (no team has been able to reach anywhere near his number) but effective enough to make a difference.</p><p>The two stick by each other’s sides, through thick and thin. To hell and back.</p><p>Until they don’t.</p><p> </p><p>Keishin stands next to Narita Kazuhito throughout the ceremony and buys the kid a drink afterwards, ignoring the legal drinking age. If the military can bypass important basic rules, so can he.</p><p>“He said he couldn’t stand to see the face anymore.”</p><p>Keishin pauses in his drinking and looks over to see the kid hasn’t touched his drink yet. They’re sitting outside on the roof of the cadet barracks, feet hanging off the edge.</p><p>“I wish I could have taken some of the pain… the burden away from him.”</p><p>Keishin wishes he could take the whole war away from these kids.</p><p>“I wish… I wish I never–”</p><p>And Keishin’s heard enough. He grabs Narita into a hug. Keishin won’t let him say it. Not here, not now. The kid immediately clutches him back.</p><p>After a while Keishin feels his dress blues develop a wet patch on his shoulder. He doesn’t say anything. Letting the kid quietly get it all out. </p><p>“Thank you Ukai,” Narita begins softly when he’s finished. “I needed this.”</p><p>“Anytime kid, I mean it.” That earns Keishin a small smile.</p><p>“I’ll hold you to that.”</p><p>They get up and start making their way downstairs.</p><p>“I ship out the day after tomorrow.”</p><p>Keishin freezes at the bottom of the steps. ‘That’s not enough time’ is what he wants to say. Instead he asks part jokingly, part seriously: “Why spend your precious time with an old geezer like me?”</p><p>The kid holds up his unopened drink. “Needed to bring back a gift for my younger siblings.” Narita then turns around and starts walking towards the bus stop. The small smile never leaving his face.</p><p> </p><p>The next time Keishin sees the kid is at a Purple Heart Ceremony. Narita is getting one for saving his fellow soldiers from an IED. Losing a leg and half of his hearing in the process.</p><p>After the ceremony Keishin slips out the door, quietly. Needing to avoid getting trapped into conversations he doesn’t want to have with his superiors.</p><p>Unfortunately, he doesn’t escape fast enough to avoid a conversation. Fortunately, its Narita who speaks with him.</p><p>“I want to thank you properly for everything you’ve done for me. Because of your training and everything afterwards I’ve made it this far.”</p><p>Keishin shakes his head in disagreement. “That’s all on you k– Narita. I was just the guy yelling at you to run faster.”</p><p>“Nonsense,” Narita smiles back, “you did more than that.”</p><p>They chat a bit longer before departing ways. Keishin is glad to know Narita never has to go back.</p><p> </p><p>The last time he sees Narita alive is through a news clip a couple of years later. The headline reads “Young Veteran Dies a Hero After Saving 8 Lives During Surprise Terrorist Attack”. Keishin laughs at the redundancy of the header. All terrorist attacks are a surprise. Stating the obvious like that doesn’t help anyone.</p><p> </p><p>Only family and a select few are invited to personally say goodbye to the public hero. Indicating the ceremony would be a small event, but when Keishin arrives there’s a small crowd.</p><p>Keishin learns almost all of them belong to the Narita family tree, who embrace him with open arms. The younger ones thank him for their first taste of alcohol. While the older ones thank him for being a guiding light for the next generation.</p><p> </p><p>When it’s all over Keishin has a fridge full of leftovers and a pocket full of notes. His heart is lighter than it has been the past couple of decades.</p><p> </p>
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<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Fighting Till the End</h2></a>
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    <p>The war is almost over when the name Shimizu Kiyoko travels through the country like wildfire. And Keishin knows that name is familiar. So he reaches deep into the recesses of his memories to recall a quiet, determined girl in his very first class of recruits.</p><p>He looks through her file and learns she went MIA on her third deployment. Then later given POW status when half of her battalion were held for ransom a year later. After that, nothing. The kid disappeared off the face of the earth.</p><p> </p><p>Through the grapevine Keishin discovers she has spent the past two months in the Intensive Care Unit of the top hospital of their country. And that she spent the half-decade before that in foreign lands, fighting for her life to get back. Having to pose as the enemy at times, in order to bring back information that will change the tide of the war.</p><p>The rumors are confirmed when he attends what everyone is calling ‘The Final Meeting’. A small beat up, water and fire damaged journal sits in the middle of the table. Containing the answers on how to end this war. For good.</p><p> </p><p>He’s sitting at her beside the day it all goes down. The TV is on a low mummer, and the hospital is full of tense anticipation. Shimizu is sleeping peacefully in her hospital bed.</p><p>Keishin is almost asleep himself when he hears a whispered ‘We did it.’</p><p>He opens his eyes and sees the current news reel title of ‘Emergency Broadcast: Decades Long War Finally Over.’</p><p>He looks to his side and sees Shimizu awake for the first time in months.</p><p>“You did it,” he whispers back as the woman closes her eyes with a soft smile on her face.</p><p> </p><p>Shimizu passes away a few hours later.</p><p> </p>
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<a name="section0014"><h2>14. A Different Time, A Different Place</h2></a>
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    <p>The peace treaties have been signed. The war is officially over. Finally.</p><p>At long last Keishin gets the Honorable Discharge he deserves. He packs up his things and moves as far away from the base as he can get and doesn’t look back.</p><p>He sells his family’s farm to some corporation and uses that money to buy a small plot of land in a nice rural town and grows his own food. It keeps him busy. Allowing him stay in the present.</p><p> </p><p>Over time Keishin feels himself turning into, not who he was pre-military career (he joined too young for that to happen) but into who he would have been if he never joined in the first place.</p><p>His new life works for him. The isolation lets him heal. He’s started a fruit orchard and it’s good. This new life he’s built for himself.</p><p> </p><p>On the day Keishin picks the first fruit from his orchard a man with rectangular glasses shows up at his place.</p><p>“Hello, my name is Takeda Itetsu. I just moved to town.”</p><p>“Welcome.” Keishin tosses a fruit over to the man, who takes a bite and grins.</p><p>“It’s good,” the man complements. “You grow them yourself?”</p><p>“Since they were seedlings.”</p><p>“They got names?”</p><p>Keishin can’t help but smile at the silly question. “Names?”</p><p>“Yes, names. I heard if you name a fruit tree, they will grow sweeter fruit.”</p><p>“What if I want bitter fruit to keep away thieves?”</p><p>“Then give it a name that will produce bitter fruit,” Takeda replies easily.</p><p>Keishin blinks in shock before regaining his smile. “You got me there specks.”</p><p>They enjoy the peaceful atmosphere before continuing their conversation.</p><p>“Are there really fruit thieves in this town? If so, I better rename my trees to keep them away.”</p><p>Keishin lets out a soft, good natured laugh. “Nothing a few scarecrows can’t handle.”</p><p>“Oh good. I really like the names mine currently have.”</p><p>Keishin’s cheeks start hurting from smiling too long.</p><p>“How many fruit trees you got growing?”</p><p>“Fourteen. Each one a different fruit.”</p><p>Takeda blinks in shock before regaining his smile. “Well we better get started.”</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Names and corresponding fruit that represents each of Keishin's kids is up to you. <br/>Thank you all for taking time out of your life to read this. It is much appreciated. </p><p>  <a href="https://rayofsun936.tumblr.com/">tumble</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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